Growing The American Women

Growing the American Woman
Merriam-Webster defines development as “the act or process of growing or causing something to grow or become larger or more advanced ...” When asked to select and discuss the most important developments in U.S. women’s history from the 1870s through the late 20th century, it became an extremely arduous task to pick just a few. Studying the “process of growing,” in the United States is a complex practice of looking at the influential women and the life-altering events that shaped the 21st century woman of today. Thorough scrutiny of our history book, literature, radio and print ads, movies and television, and class lectures, from 1870 to 1990, indicates that there were many significant moments in women’s history
For the first time in United States history, women were considered equal citizens, and as such were now legally able to have their say in political, social, and economic issues. What is most remarkable about the women’s suffrage movement is the strength and determination supporters exhibited while maintaining their dignity and propriety. While men have waged bloody revolutions for the right to have their say, these women were completely ignored, portrayed as unfeminine and anti-home and family, and patiently endured betrayal and defeat at the hands of anti-suffragists. Black men were given the right to vote after the Civil War, yet women were still marginalized and disenfranchised. While women’s suffrage did not eradicate gender-based inequality in the United States, it was a crucial element in the advancement of women’s
While men have used violence, fear, and intimidation to keep women and minorities subservient throughout history, women have battled inequality with resolution, empathy, and grace. Advances in technology over the last 150 years have transformed the world into a much broader, more integrated realm where skin color, sexual identity, religion, and, especially, gender are no longer acceptable demographics used to pigeonhole individuals. There are too numerous a number of important events in U.S. women’s history over the past 150 years to even begin to discuss, but the most critical developments shaping the modern American woman must include women’s suffrage, the Great Depression, World War II, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Women’s Movement. Although the war for equality is far from over, without these world-changing events and the bravery and resolve of the women involved, I would not be sitting here today, a 44-year-old wife, mother, and college student, pursuing my dreams on my